Pacita Abad's involvement with glass, like many other things in her life, was not by design but by happenstance. It began in 1998 when Lynne and Atle Brynestad from Norway saw her work in a Singapore gallery and asked to meet the artist. When they came to the studio to purchase some paintings from Pacita's "The sky is the limit" series, they also inquired whether she would be interested in being an artist in residence at their cultural center, Stening Slott, a former palace which was located on the outskirts of Stockholm. Pacita jumped at the opportunity and they agreed to work out the details later. Read More

Pacita was surprised when she found out that her artist residency was actually working in three different locations in Sweden and Norway, affiliated with the Brynestads. She first went to Stockholm and then later to the Hadeland Glassverk in Norway, where she had an introduction to glassmaking and an exhibition, and finally to the Lindshammar Glasburg in the heart of Sweden's famous Glass Kingdom. It was here that Pacita worked days and into the nights at the glass factory hand painting her colorful abstract designs onto glass. Altogether Pacita created 88 hand painted bowls, of which she kept 44 and the factory 44. The factory later produced bowls and vases from four of her designs in Poland, which were sold commercially in Northern Europe. While she was in Lindshammar, Pacita also made a number of smaller glass blocks and medallions using some of her mask and abstract designs. Close